The invention relates to an end plate for a fuel cell stack, according to the preamble of the main claim, as well as to a fuel cell stack which contains at least one such end plate.
Usually end plates assume the function of holding together a fuel cell stack which comprises several fuel cells connected in series, for example by way of clamping with a second end plate, as well as for collecting current at a first or last fuel cell of the respective fuel cell stack. According to the state of the art, it is furthermore known to lay channels for the supply and/or removal of reactants, reaction products and/or coolants through an end plate, so that the respective end plate contains a section at least of one such channel. Typically, with an end plate according to the state of the art, such channels are arranged in an end region of the end plate, in order from there to accordingly lead into edge regions of the adjacent fuel cells.
Typically, pumps are required for the operation of fuel cell stacks, which in each case may serve for conveying a reactant, a reaction product or a coolant. At the same time, with conventional fuel cell stacks, the pumps form auxiliary units which are arranged separately from the actual fuel cell stack. This demands an expensive tube/piping system which is disadvantageously costly, and simultaneously leads to relatively long transport paths, which in turn leads to undesired, uncontrollable flow dynamics with disadvantageously high energy losses.